The Life of Kevin and Argit
by Cocobunny201
Summary: If the writers of Ben 10 wont tell me what happened when Kevin and Argit traveled the galaxy together then I guess i'll have to write it myself.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey." Argit looked up to see a human. He didn't know if he had met him before. All humans looked kinda similar to him. Their language was difficult to understand. This one seemed smaller than the others. Perhaps he was a child.

He wanted to go home. He had no idea what was happening. There were people he didn't recognize. He had gotten into trouble on his home planet, and then? Everything was a blur. He knew he was in a cage. It was better than the burlap sack he had spent a few hours in earlier that day.

"What planet are you supposed to be from?" Said the human child in front of him. Argit didn't understand. He seemed to be asking a question, though, as he'd heard other humans talk with an upward inflection at the end of the sentence and another human would always say something. Should he say something? The human probably wouldn't understand his native language. He only knew a few words in English, and he wasn't sure of their meaning. He decided to try his best.

"Fuck," he tried to respond as well as he could in English. The human in front of him laughed. "Planet fuck?" Argit stared at him, hoping he had given an acceptable answer. "Okay, sure. I'm from planet Earth. I wish it could be renamed 'fuck' though, that'd be great." Argit heard the phrase 'Planet Earth,' which was similar to 'Planet Fuck.' He decided to try the conversation going. Maybe he'd learn something.

"Earth," he said. "Yeah, I'm from there. I just said that. What's wrong with you?" He asked this earnestly. He had only talked to aliens that knew English or had translators. Why couldn't this one talk? Was he not sentient? He frowned, trying to figure this alien out.

Argit noticed the frown, and backed away defensively. "No," he tried. He had witnessed other humans use the syllable to get others to stop, and he hoped it might work for him.

"No, I'm not from Earth, or no there's nothing wrong with you?" The human asked. He didn't stop frowning. Did the magic word not work for aliens, Argit wondered? The human sighed, and leaned back a bit. "Whatever. What's your name?" He pointed at Argit. Argit stared.

The human decided to start, because the alien probably wouldn't. "I'm Kevin." He put his hand on his own chest. "Ke-vin," He repeated slowly. He put his hand through the bars, trying to put his hand on Argit's chest to to show it was his turn to talk, like he'd seen in the movies. Argit backed away.

Kevin sighed, and took his hand out of the cage.

"Argit," said Argit, hoping that this was what he was supposed to say. "Argit? Is that your name?" Asked Kevin. Argit face lit up at the sound of his name. He hadn't heard it in a while. Kevin pointed at him. "Argit," he repeated, then he pointed to himself. "Kevin,"

"Kevin," Argit said. Kevin smiled. Argit smiled too. He was glad to talk to someone, after being ignored for days.

"Kevin, what are you doing? You should be in the rec room where I left you! If you can't follow orders..." Kevin stood up quickly, rolling his eyes. At the sound of more adult humans, Argit shrank into the corner of the cage, no longer smiling. Kevin walked off with the Proctor, and once again Argit was alone.

XxxxxxxxxX

The human hadn't come back in a day, and Argit didn't expect him to. He tried to wriggle out of the cage bars, but every time he did he heard the footsteps of a guard and he pretended to have been sitting quietly the whole time.

Eventually, despite what he believed, the human did return. "Hey Argit!" He kneeled down in front of the cage, peering in. "Kevin," Argit said, not sure what else to say.

"Want some food?" He held out half a slice of bread. Argit tried to grab it. "Not yet. Say food," he intended to teach him English. Argit stared. "Food!" Kevin repeated. He pointed at it like he had pointed to himself and Argit a while ago. "Food!" He repeated again, hoping he'd get the message.

"Food?" Argit said quietly. Kevin handed him the bread. "Great! You got it! You wanna learn some swear words?" He smiled. Argit's mouth was filled with the bread he'd just gotten, but he smiled back.

Again, someone walked by. "Again Kevin? Why bother with them. You should be showing the new kid around!" Kevin sighed. He got up. "See you later," he told Argit, and walked off.

XxxxxxxxxX

Argit waited eagerly all day for Kevin. He did not try to escape the cage, because he didn't want to get lost without seeing a friendly face again. He had been given some sort of disgusting pellet food to eat, and he only ate it because he knew he would die if he didn't. He was scared of dying. He knew all about death.

Kevin didn't show up until the lights had gone dim. They did this periodically, and would do this for about eight hours. Then they'd be fully lit for sixteen. He wasn't sure why this was. His home planet went on a much faster time scale.

He missed his home planet.

He wished he knew how to tell Kevin.

Kevin held out another half slice of bread, but again kept it far enough away that Argit couldn't reach it. In his other hand he held a piece of paper with six differently colored circles on it.

He sat down, and tore the bread into pieces. He pointed to the red circle on the paper. "Red," Kevin said. "Red," Argit said back, realizing how this would go. Kevin gave him a small piece of the bread. They did this with every color. Then Kevin tested him.

"Which one is red?" He held out the paper. Kevin hoped Argit's species wasn't colorblind. Argit pointed to the red circle. Kevin smiled. He was glad to know that Argit was really learning English, and not just repeating what he heard.

Kevin wasn't sure why he was trying to teach him anything. Would it help his life stuck in a cage like a lab rat? Was he going to write bestselling novels trapped in the null-void?

"What else do you want to learn?" Kevin asked. Argit tried to decipher what he was asking. "Food?" He asked. He was still hungry. "More food?" Kevin said.

"Planet more food?" Argit has no idea what this meant, as he was just putting words together. Kevin didn't know what this meant either.

"I could try to bring you more things, or something. Like books or music. How about that?" He smiled, and so did Argit.

XxxxxxxxxX

"The "Red Death" has long devastated the country. No pestilence had-" "Red death?" Argit asked. He had learned Red yesterday, but he didn't know what the word death meant. Kevin was reading from an old book, and he wanted to know what was so important that humans would keep it in written form.

"Well, you know the color red, and death is like..." he thought for a second, then mimed a knife across his throat. He then lay dramatically on the floor, holding his breath. "Oh!" Argit said, mimicking a sound that he guessed meant understanding for humans. He assumed then that "Red Death" meant blood.

"... ever been so fatal, or so hideous." Again Argit was confused. He hadn't really understood the first part of the sentence. Kevin sighed. He didn't really get the story either. It was all he could find in the complex.

"So, the Red Death makes people die. It has made more people die than any other plague," he guessed. He had no idea if the red death was supposed to be a plague or a serial killer.

Argit was still confused.

Kevin decided to try to act it out again. He made his fingers stand on the ground, like tiny humans. He labeled one 'red death' by pointing to it, and the other 'person'. The fingers labeled red death stomped on the other, killing it. "See, the red death kills. That's what they mean by pestilence."

Argit nodded. A man dressed in red was killing people. Killing lots of people is what humans call 'pestilence'.

Again, someone walked by and spotted Kevin talking to Argit. It wasn't a guard.

"Proctor Servantis!" Kevin exclaimed, standing up. Servantis was red, as he was already part cerebro-crustacean. Argit pointed at him.

"Pestilence!"

Kevin laughed nervously. Servantis wasn't laughing at all. "Okay, let me explain. I'm trying to teach him English, and..."

Kevin grabbed Servantis' arm and pulled him away from Argit; he was safe from punishment for now.

XxxxxxxxxX

Kevin was back. He had more food. This time he had some more stale bread and a couple of old grapes. He taught Argit the words for them, and decided that he'd talk about his day instead of fancy old literature. He had printed pictures to illustrate what he meant.

"Today, I had French toast for breakfast," he showed him a picture of French toast printed off the internet. "Then I played video games with the other kids here," he showed him a picture of a Xbox controller and a stock photo of people playing video games. "I went to the gym they have here," he showed a picture of a treadmill. "Then I showered," he showed a picture of a shower.

"Today food," Argit guessed. "Today you ate food?" "Today you ate food," "No, it's 'Today I ate food.'" "Today I ate food." Kevin nodded. "Today I ate bread," said Argit, and Kevin smiled.

"Tomorrow, Servantis is going to show me where the weapons room is." Argit nodded. If 'today' means past, 'tomorrow' must mean future.

"Tomorrow, I eat bread," he said. "Probably," Kevin said. Argit was getting the hang of human language. He tried more sentences. "Tomorrow, pestilence ate you," Never mind, Kevin decided.

"If you're referring to Servantis, yesterday he told me to tell you not to call him that." "Yesterday?" "Yeah, like there's tomorrow, today, and yesterday." He gestured with his hands.

"Yesterday I ate bread," Argit tested. "Yeah, like that," Kevin said. "Yesterday Servantis ate bread?" He asked. "Did Servantis eat bread yesterday? I don't know. Probably," Kevin said.

"Did you eat bread yesterday?"

"Yes,"

"Did Servantis eat you Yesterday?"

"No! Argit that's not how it works! People don't eat people! What do you mean by eat?" Argit mimed biting. He stuck his hand through the bars and gently hit Kevin.

"Do you mean hurt? He didn't hurt me. He's nice!" Kevin said. Argit rolled his eyes, copying what Kevin did sometimes.

"Tomorrow I hurt Servantis-" "Woah! Okay, one, it's 'will hurt', singular, and two, you can't hurt him! He gave us all homes! We both would be kicked out if we aren't nice. So don't say that."

"He will hurt you,"

Kevin leaned back, scowling.

"His friends hurt you. His friends hurt me. My friends don't hurt me." Argit said. Kevin stood up. Argit tried to stand, but he couldn't in the cage he was stuck in.

"If you can't be nice, it's not your fault when you get kicked out."

"Fuck you!" Argit tried to hit him through the bars of the cage. Unfortunately for him, Kevin was already walking away.

XxxxxxxxxX

Kevin didn't return for days. During that time, Argit was put into a different room. This one was bigger, and there weren't any bars. Instead, there was strong glass. This room had a bed, a sink, and a toilet. He absolutely loved how soft the bed was, and how much freedom he had to walk around.

When Kevin finally returned, it seemed that he knew exactly where to find Argit.

"Are you sorry now?" He asked. "What's sorry?" "It's when you hurt someone and wish you didn't." Argit nodded.

There was a hole in the glass where the guards could put food and rocks through. Kevin put his hand through. Argit stared. "Give me your hand. Well shake on it, and then we won't be mad at each other." Argit put his hand in Kevin's, and they shook hands.

Kevin smiled at Argit. "You know, I do like you. I don't want to fight you." He sat down in front of the glass. Argit sat down too. "I like you," Argit repeated, hoping that it meant what he thought.

"I'm sorry I got mad. I don't want Servantis any more mad at you than he already is. I don't like him when he's pissed off."

"I don't like you when you're pissed off." He said, replacing the word 'he' with 'you', making his own sentence. Kevin scowled. "I said I was sorry!" He said. Argit sighed. He was learning human communication quickly.

"Should I teach you more words?" Kevin asked. Argit nodded. Kevin tried to think of what Argit would need to know.

"Do you like this room?" The only word he didn't know in the sentence was the new one (room), and he gestured at the room. Argit nodded. "You can say 'yes' or 'yeah' to say you like what someone says." "Yes."

"Do you like the food here?" Argit thought for a second for the right answer, then responded with "No. I like bread and grapes,"

"You have low standards," Kevin said. The bread and grapes had been table scraps, and he hadn't ate them because he found them gross. "They taste bad compared to some of the other food on earth..."

"Taste?" "If you like food, you like the taste of the food." Argit nodded. "Fuck the food here. The taste is bad."

Kevin laughed. "You can't say that all the time! It's considered a bad word!"

"A bad word?"

"Yes, you can't say them! At least, not in front of Servantis."

Argit waited a bit, the said quietly, "fuck."

Kevin sighed. "Where did you even learn that?" "Servantis has friends that say bad words." "Okay, well don't say them. You'll get in trouble." "Say more bad words!" "No!"

After a few moments, Kevin brought his face to the hole in the glass. "Shit," he whispered. He laughed. "You didn't hear it from me! Servantis told me to stop swearing around the other kids here." Argit nodded.

"Do you know what shit means?" Argit shook his head. "It means poop!" He laughed, because this was the pinnacle of comedy to an eleven year old, and Argit laughed too. "Pissed means either angry, drunk, or peed." He laughed again, mostly because it was taboo to talk in depth about swearing.

"Fuck means sex." "Whats that?" Kevin realized that he'd backed himself into a corner with this one- now he had to talk about sex. He wasn't sure he even knew enough about it to explain it to Argit.

"It what people do to make babies. They put their junk together and then the girl gets pregnant." "Whats junk?" Argit asked.

"Oh, you know..." he gestured vaguely, not meaning anything in particular. He regretted bringing it up. "It doesn't matter. Let's talk about something else!"

XxxxxxxxxX

After a few days of regularly meeting up, Kevin brought Argit a radio and some cds. He played some classic rock for Argit, hoping to teach him what conversations about their day to day routine can't.

"What's gold?" Argit asked. They had been listening to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. "It's a metal on earth that can be used to trade for things. It's worth a lot."

"I want gold," Argit said.

"Don't we all," Replied Kevin.

"What's glitters?" "It's when... it's like a bunch of tiny dots of light. Girls like it. I think it's stupid." Argit knew what girls were from a previous conversation. Apparently they weren't as cool as boys, but Kevin said that he only liked girls and not boys. Argit was confused, but he decided he didn't care enough to ask.

"What's stairs?" Kevin pointed at the end of the hallway. "It's those things over there."

"Whats heaven?" Kevin didn't want to talk about the intricacies of human religion. That cold take them hours. "It's supposed to be a really nice place. It's the opposite of hell, where we are right now." He laughed to himself.

"Are we going to get out of hell?" Argit asked. "Sometimes, Servantis has me go out to run errands. I'm always tied to here, though."

"Let's leave then!" "No! We can't! This isn't literally hell, I was making a joke."

Argit sighed. He hated how Kevin always insisted that Servantis was a nice person. He wasn't sure if what he remembered from the burlap sack was real. He leaned against the glass.

They continued listening to music together.

Kevin decided to change the subject.

XxxxxxxxxX

He was back in the cage. He didn't know what he did to deserve this. He also didn't know how he got there.

Kevin sat in front of him. He was talking in a gentle manner. "Where..." Argit started. Kevin reached a hand through the bars of the cage and patted his shoulder comfortingly. Argit sighed and leaned into it. It was comforting.

"Are you doing alright?" Kevin asked. "I don't know what happens to the aliens afterwards. I know that humans are fine, but..." "I'm fine. Where am I? Why am I back here?"

"You're... safe. I don't think they'll kill you, but I'm worried they won't need you anymore and toss you out into the null-void." Argit knew of the null-void. He didn't know if he'd ever been outside, but he understood where they were.

"I don't want to leave you," Argit said, putting his own hand on Kevin's shoulder. Kevin's smiled to himself. "That's kinda gay," he said. "Whats gay?" Argit asked. "Well, it's like, um, two guys dating or kissing or something. Like, a guy and a girl isn't gay, but two guys is gay." "Whats two girls called?" Argit asked. "Uh, I think it's Lebanese or something. I don't know!"

"Whatever," Argit said, copying what Kevin always said to change subjects. "Why would they toss me out into the null-void? What did I do?" "You didn't do anything! You just..." Kevin wasn't sure how to put what happened into words.

"We sort of... used your DNA to give one of the kids here superpowers. There's other aliens here, and other kids with different superpowers. We're going to join together to fight this guy that's going to destroy the universe and stuff."

"Oh." He didn't really get it, but he decided he'd figure it out later. "What's superpowers?" "They're cool stuff you can do that regular people can't." "Oh. What superpowers did the kid get?" "Whatever superpowers you have. Spiky hair powers I guess."

"Hair?" "You know," Kevin ran his hand through Argit's hair. Out of surprise, he backed away, quills standing on end. "Like that!" Kevin said. "It's not a superpower." Argit told him. "Fine."

To Kevin's surprise, Argit covered his face with his hands. After a few seconds, he composed himself, and looked back up.

"I want to leave." He said. "I can't stay here." "Hey..." Kevin said, trying to comfort him. He patted him on the shoulder again. "I can convince them to put you back into the nice glass room, Okay? Everything will be fine."

XxxxxxxxxX

Kevin was in huge trouble with Servantis, and Argit feared it was his fault. He had snuck out of his cage, onto the ship taking Kevin and some other kids to earth and he had stopped Kevin from completing the task he had been asked to.

Servantis was pissed. Argit was really scared of what he would do to them both.

Argit was in the cage again. Guards stood on either side of it, so there was no hope for escape. Kevin was nowhere to be seen. He was probably talking to Servantis somewhere. He really hoped he was alright, considering none of this was Kevin's fault.

One of the guards knelt down in front of the cage. Both guards exchanged looks, and the one that was standing left the room.

"So, I heard you got yourself into trouble," the guard crooned. Argit backed as far away as he could. The guard reached into the cage and grabbed his arm. He pulled Argit close and grabbed his face. "Proctor Servantis won't have any misbehavior. Maybe I should punish you..."

"Whats punished?" Argit asked. He struggled against the guard. "Oh, I can show you if you want-" "Thanks I get it now!" He tried to pull away from the guard.

"How about I let you out?" The guard asked. Argit, fearing that this was a test, shook his head as best he could under the guard's strong grip.

"Fuck you!" Argit exclaimed. Kevin's explanation of what the word meant hadn't really made sense, but he knew of something similar that he didn't know the English word for. He regretted what he had just said. He didn't want to do it with the guard.

"Oh? Would you like to?" The guard teased. He let go of Argit's hand, and Argit used the extra strength to push against the cage bars. The guard let go of his face, and Argit was flung back against the back of the cage. The guard laughed. He stood up, and resumed standing next to the cage as the other guard rushed in and stood next to the cage as well.

Servantis walked in. Kevin walked next to him. Servantis unlocked the cage.

"Follow me."

They walked through halls Argit had never seen before. Kevin was being quiet, and Argit didn't know what the subtle facial expressions he made meant. What was going on?

They stood besides a large door. "What's happening?" Argit whispered to Kevin. "It doesn't matter what I say. You won't remember," Kevin said. He didn't bother whispering. The whole situation seemed weird.

Argit took Kevin's hand. He didn't receive any complaints, so he held tight.

"Are we going to die?" Argit asked. Kevin didn't answer right away. "...no," he said eventually. Argit wasn't reassured.

He never quite recovered the memory of what happened after that. He could only remember waking up in the mull-void next to Kevin, with monsters crying in the distance, and no buildings in sight.


	2. Chapter 2

They awoke on an asteroid in hell.

Argit nudged Kevin gently. He stirred.

"Where..." he saw that he was still in the null-void. He groaned and laid back down. "How did we get here?" He asked Argit. He wasn't sure how he met him, but he knew he was a friend.

"I... don't know," Argit said. He had never seen the null-void before. The only word he knew to describe where he was was hell. He wasn't sure how he had met Kevin either, but he knew he was fond of him.

Argit stood up when he heard the far off sounds of monsters. "We should get going," he said, and Kevin stood up as well. There was a trail of asteroids leading into the fog.

They hopped from rock to rock, looking for shelter.

XxxxxxxxxX

Eventually they found a massive structure. Argit hadn't ever seen it, but Kevin knew it all to well.

"Will we be safe here?" Argit asked, not knowing what the building was.

"It's the prison-"

Suddenly, spotlights were on them. Alarms blared, and immediately robotic prison guards came after them. Kevin turned to run, but the guards caught him.

They were surrounded. They had to surrender.

"Whats so bad about this?" Argit asked. He knew there was worse out there, monsters he'd heard screeching in the distance, giant shapes writhing about half hidden in the fog. Kevin was still worried.

"I don't want to go back to prison. I want to be free and..." "Free to be eaten by monsters?" They has both hands on their heads and we're marching based on the orders of the robot guards.

XxxxxxxxxX

"The food here isn't bad!" Argit said. Kevin didn't agree. "We should have gone in the other direction. Now we're stuck here, and I'll have to spend my fucking life here!" Argit patted his shoulder. He didn't know what other affection humans liked.

They had been given one bar of soap, a toothbrush, and a towel when they got into the prison. The rest they could buy at the small store near the med ward.

Kevin had checked if he still had the money in his account from when he had previously been there. He did. "Should we buy anything?" Argit had asked him. "We? It's my money." Kevin responded.

Now they were running out of time before curfew to shower. They didn't have any time to be embarrassed by their nakedness as they rushed to get clean from the day's events. They retired to bed exhausted. They didn't know what to make of the situation. One minute they had woken up with no memories in the middle of nowhere, the next they were in a prison.

XxxxxxxxxX

The next evening they had more time after dinner to do what they pleased because they didn't argue about the shop at all. They didn't spend time exploring the compound or arguing with other prisoners, as Kevin had spent his time when he was here before. Now they could enjoy the nice, warm showers.

Argit was curious. Did humans look the same as his species under their clothes? He peeked over the divider into Kevin's shower. "Hey!" Kevin pushed him back.

There was no time for them to fight. Someone Kevin didn't really recognize had walked in, and was heading their way.

"So, here's the newbies." He leered at them both, particularly Argit, who was rather small and meek looking. He grabbed the soap in Argit's hand and chucked it across the room.

"Oops, you dropped it." The hulking figure jeered. "No I didn't, you threw it!" Argit said. "Rude," he muttered to himself. He wasn't sure what to do about the situation.

"I'll get it," Kevin said, and he handed Argit his own soap before he wrapped his towel around his waist and strode across the room to where the soap lay on the floor.

While he was gone, the man stared down Argit. Kevin returned quickly, knowing how this situation like this could go in prison.

"Calm down, dude," he told the stranger, eyeing him to make sure he didn't have a knife or anything. "There's plenty of showers to choose from." There were only a few other prisoners showering in the room, and they were minding their own business. He wanted to diffuse the situation. The man stared silently.

Eventually they finished showering and left. The man had just stood there being creepy. At least he didn't do anything. That would have been even worse.

They sat on Kevin's cot together. "That guy was creepy." Kevin said. "Bet prison isn't so fun now, is it." Argit shrugged in response. "At least he didn't actually do anything." He said. Kevin really wanted to convince him to leave, but Argit did have a point. There was food and shelter here, and nothing had happened.

It wouldn't last though. The implication of what could have happened hung in the air.

XxxxxxxxxX

Despite how calm Argit seemed, Kevin wasn't sure either of them wanted to stay in prison. There were times when he wasn't sure of Argit's whereabouts and he felt guilty. He always found him safe and sound, but he knew it wouldn't last. He always feared losing him for good, or finding him too late.

He wanted to plan their escape together, but there wasn't any time where the cameras weren't on them he could think to discuss it. Only when he found a dirty magazine under another prisoner's bed did he get some ideas. He shared them quietly at dinner.

"I want to get out of here." Of course, every prisoner said that. It wasn't suspicious to not want to get out of prison.

"Kevin, you tell me all the time. We're not going to die-" "If you really want to stay here then convince me." Argit wasn't sure what he was getting at. Kevin glanced pointedly at the cameras in the corner of the mess hall. He picked up Argit's hand and kissed the back of it. "I thought you said-"

"Let's discuss what I said in the showers." They threw away their empty dinner trays and headed for the showers. Argit was thoroughly confused.

Kevin had said he didn't like to kiss boys. Why had he kissed his hand? Was it the same reason he kept trying to make him look at the camera? Was he planning something?

When they got to the showers, they got into their usual stalls.

"Let's... make out," Kevin said. It was about as awkward as a preteen who'd never kissed anyone could make it. Argit shot him a confused look.

"Play along," Kevin whispered. Hopefully the sound of running water would mask their whispers. "I want to escape." Argit nodded. Kevin had been complaining for days. It was kind of inevitable he'd try to leave.

"Okay," said Argit, and he stood a bit closer to Kevin. They exchanged a chaste kiss to make whoever was watching the security cameras believe they were not planning a prison break.

"There's a secret tunnel out of here. It's a bit small, but you will definitely fit." He kissed Argit again.

"Where is it?" "I'll show you," another kiss. Kevin was slowly getting used to the whole situation.

"Put food in your pockets and leave whenever the coast is clear. We'll leave at different times tomorrow so they don't get suspicious. Get it?" Argit nodded, they shared one last kiss, finished showering, and then they headed off to bed.

XxxxxxxxxX

The coast was clear. No cameras, no guards, no witnesses. This was the place. He knew Kevin was going to leave later. He didn't want to be left behind, so he took the opportunity.

The tunnel was a comfortable size for him to crawl through. He could go on his hands and knees, and he was making good time. He found the reddish glow of the null-void soon enough. The open air was the same stale air that filled the null-void, but at least it was better than the tiny tunnel he had crawled in. Now he had to wait for Kevin.

The first hour of waiting was fine. He didn't expect him to follow him that quickly, as it would be suspicious. But the second hour made him nervous. Was he okay? The third made him really worry. What if he was stuck? What if he got caught? What if the rock above him had crumpled, crushing him to bits?

Kevin crawled out of the tunnel. He wasn't crushed under a boulder, or caught by guards. He was perfectly fine. Argit threw his arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"You took too long! You scared me to death!" Kevin patted him on the back. He liked having someone worry about him, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling. "Sorry for scaring you," Kevin said. Argit backed up a bit, ending the hug. "I wasn't scared," he said trying to compose himself despite directly contradicting himself from a few seconds ago.

"Let's get going," Argit said.

XxxxxxxxxX

They cuddled up against each other for warmth. The cave barely kept out the wind. The 'nighttime' in the null-void was marked only by a shift in temperature. There was no obvious darkness, no brighter daytime. They weren't even sure if it was nighttime at all.

They weren't going to freeze to death, but the cold air was definitely uncomfortable. They had put Argit's jacket over them both, but it was too small to be a good blanket. They needed to look for supplies of they wanted to survive.

They slept poorly that night.

When the air warmed up, they hit the road. Hopefully they'd find something. As they walked, Kevin talked about everything he missed about earth.

"... And dogs, man, they were great. They were so nice and soft, and they wouldn't judge you..." he smiled at the thought. He had always loved dogs growing up, but he never got to keep one as a pet. One day he'd get one, if he ever got out of the null-void. They kept walking, and Argit listened to his friend talk about things he'd never seen before.

Eventually, they came across some sort of makeshift structure. It looked like the kind of thing escaped prisoners would live in. The walls were made of a mixture of the natural rock formations and miscellaneous materials.

"Do you think it's abandoned?" Kevin asked. "Abandoned?" Argit asked for clarification. He still didn't know every word in the English language. "Is there anyone still living there?" Kevin elaborated.

There was only one way to find out. They tiptoed through the tattered cloth that seemed to signify a door. "Hello?" Kevin whispered. They tried to walk as silently as possible. There wasn't a sound coming from inside the building. Either nobody was there, and there was a reason they left, or someone was there, and they were hiding.

Argit slid his hand into Kevin's. Kevin didn't try to wriggle his hand away, so Argit held onto him tighter. Together, with each other's comfort helping to embolden themselves, they walked through the rooms of the shelter. There wasn't any hallway, but each room had an opening that led to the next. There were four rooms total.

The first room was empty. The second had piles of rusted alien tech, and some boxes of food. The third had a mattress and some sleeping bags rolled up in the corner. The fourth had a dead body.

"Ugh!" Was all Kevin could say. There were flies surrounding the body, and there were so many crawling on the face he thought it was covered with a trash bag at first. "I didn't know there were flies in the null void," he muttered.

Argit let go of Kevin. He tried to poke the body, but Kevin pulled him back. "Don't touch it, there's germs!" He said. "Whats germs?" Argit asked him. "They're teeny tiny animals that make you sick." "Whats teeny tiny?" Kevin sighed. "Never mind."

Together, they poked the corpse with sticks, hoping to see if it was anyone they knew. It wasn't. Sick of the smell, they grabbed all the loot they could find and brought it outside. They had a few more sleeping bags than they needed, so they only took two smaller ones. They ate as much food as they could manage, then decided to carry the rest of it with them in the sleeping bags.

"Are you sure we shouldn't just move the dead guy and stay here?" Argit asked. He'd seen corpses before; what's the big deal? "I'm sure. I don't want his ghost haunting us." Kevin had only seen dead bodies in horror movies. He only associated them with ghosts and he did not want to get haunted. Argit rolled his eyes.

They found a rock within a days walking distance that had a nice cave on the side of it. They could slide down a stiff drop into it and nobody would be able to see the cave entrance from the surface. They placed down the sleeping bags right when the air took on a familiar chill.

"Guess It's night time," Kevin said. He looked out on the blood red clouds that filled the null void. He hoped it wasn't actual blood. He'd had enough gore for one day.

Argit followed Kevin's lead and put himself inside the sleeping bag. He hadn't really seen a sleeping bag before, and he wasn't sure what it was supposed to do.

Their sleeping bags were pretty close together. "We don't have pillows," Kevin said. "Can I see your jacket?" Argit took off his jacket, and handed it to Kevin, who put it under both of their heads. It protected them from the rough floor. Nice. They fell asleep, glad to have some refuge against the cold for once.

XxxxxxxxxX

A few months later...

The monster released a deep guttural growl and Argit felt a chill down to his bones. Where was Kevin? Had the monster found him already?

The rock that protected Argit from the monster seemed too small. He had heard they couldn't see, but they could still smell and hear. He tried to quiet his breathing. He hoped his torn jacket that lay several yards away would provide a distraction.

He tried to turn, but gasped when he felt a pain in his side. Months of sleeping on dirt and stone was paying off in the most unhelpful timing for a muscle cramp ever.

The monster heard him gasp. It pounced, bounding over the rock and onto Argit. It had his arm! It was going to bite down any second now-

He fired some quills into the slobbering monster, hoping the pain of being pricked would distract it long enough for the sedatives to take effect. But it was taking too long!

Jumping onto a nearby boulder, Kevin threw a rock at the beast. It let go of Argit and turned towards Kevin. Luckily, the sedatives had finally began to work, and the beast toppled over.

Argit ran into Kevin's arms. "Oh my god thank you I was going to die and you saved me," he buried his face in Kevin's chest. Kevin hugged him back. He tried to keep his own composure, but it was hard.

"I was so worried," Kevin choked out. Argit leaned back, and Kevin saw that his arm was a bit torn up. "Your arm!"

"I'm fine! 'Tis but a flesh wound!" He shakily quoted something he heard Kevin say sometimes in response to being injured. Kevin laughed a sad laugh.

"We gotta get out of here. It's getting chilly out." They went to the closest of their temporary shelters for the night.

XxxxxxxxxX

"Happy birthday!" Argit said. He'd said this every day to Kevin for the past week. They didn't know the current date back on earth, but Kevin knew that his thirteenth birthday was coming up. It had been Halloween recently, according to some orange and black fireworks he'd seen in the distance. He wasn't sure how fireworks got into the null void, but he didn't feel like asking.

Kevin smiled at Argit. They hadn't been torn apart by monsters yet, and they didn't plan on it. They weren't living comfortably, but they were living.

"I'm thirteen now," Kevin said to himself, "Officially a teen!" He was glad to have reached this milestone. Argit nodded. He had absolutely no idea of his own age, but he was glad Kevin could be happy.

"I heard that guy OTTO found a way out," he said. Kevin's face lit up. "Is this my birthday present?" He asked Argit. After years of talking in the null void, Argit had learned what the word present meant. He'd learnt a lot of words. There wasn't much to do in the null void but talk. He'd also learnt new swears.

"Damn right it is! If he isn't bluffing," Argit said. "He better not be bluffing. I swear to god, I'll kill him if he is," Kevin said, not really expecting him to actually be lying. Why would anyone announce that they found a way out of the null void when they didn't mean it? They'd get murdered by all the people whose hopes they'd gotten up.

OTTO couldn't be lying. He just couldn't.

XxxxxxxxxX

"He lies to us!" It had been a few days since OTTO had left them in the null void, but Kevin was still angry. He thought he had calmed down, but random outbursts of anger over the last few days had proven otherwise.

"That son of a bitch fucking lied to us!" He kicked a rock. Argit sighed. He sat in the dirt, defeated. "What's the point in yelling," he said, clearly also upset. "It's been days."

"Days! And he hasn't come back for us, has he? We gave him the benefit of the doubt, and the fucker left us to rot!" He couldn't stop his rage. "I swear I'll kill him!" He tried to hold back; he didn't want to become a monster. He hated how he looked when he used the powers he'd absorbed from the Omnitrix. Argit knew this.

He gave Kevin a hug. Kevin fell to his knees, hands over his face, trying not to cry. It wouldn't be very manly to cry, and he was officially a teenager now. Argit patted him on the back, not fully understanding nor caring what counted as manly to humans.

"I'm sorry, Kevin. Don't blame yourself, blame me. I got your hopes up-" "No! I got my own hopes up! I shouldn't have trusted that bastard, and now..." he buried his face in Argit's jacket. Argit ran his hands through Kevin's hair. It had always amazed him how soft Kevin's hair was. Did all humans have hair that soft?

"I'll make it up to you, Kev," Argit said, and he gently kissed the top of his head. They hadn't really done anything romantic since they planned their big escape from prison, and Argit wasn't sure where their relationship stood. Still, he wanted to show his friend affection.

Kevin didn't mind Argit giving him a tiny kiss. He liked the intimacy of someone else caring for him. He liked having a friend. He didn't mind Argit petting his hair either. It was comforting.

They went back to their hideout, and Argit made Kevin some soup. They figured there was no more need to wait by where the teleporter once stood.

OTTO wasn't coming back for them.

They sat in silence. Then Kevin said, "So how do you plan to make it up to me?" He was picturing Argit making him a guitar or a skateboard or something. There wasn't much to do for fun in the null void.

"We could... copy what we find in the magazines? They always look like they're having fun," Argit said. Kevin laughed. "I'm serious," said Argit. Kevin stopped laughing.

"We're both boys, Argit. That wouldn't work. Plus we're not married." "Married?" "Yeah, it when they have this big ceremony-" "That's not what I meant. Why do you have to be married to do any of that stuff? And why can't two boys do it?"

"Because It's the first thing you're taught when you get the talk!" "But why?" "I don't know!" "The people in the magazines aren't married."

Kevin contemplated this. "... fine. Maybe you don't have to be married. But you'd still need the right parts and stuff, I think." Argit had a feeling Kevin was wrong, but he didn't feel like arguing.

"Fine. What else do you want as a birthday present?" Kevin sighed in relief. He hated talking about sex. It was gross. He was glad to change the subject. "How about a skateboard?" He suggested.

"Whats a skateboard? Argit asked. "A board with four wheels on the bottom. You can just make one for me with stuff you find around the null void. It has to be big enough to stand on."

XxxxxxxxxX

There wasn't much materials in the null void to make a skateboard, and Argit hadn't ever seen a skateboard before either, but he tried his best. He found some wood and wheels at the same place he and Kevin had originally gotten their sleeping bags.

Apparently the wood Argit had found was too thick, but Kevin said it was fine. "Usually the end of the board goes up, so you can do this!" He mimed making the front of the skateboard go up, but Argit, who had never seen anyone skate before, had no idea what he meant.

"Just show me how to make the thing." He said.

XxxxxxxxxX

Kevin awoke to the smell of smoke, but not campfire smoke. Argit had apparently found some cigarettes while Kevin was asleep, and now he had one lit in his mouth. He was sanding the wood of the skateboard with loose sand and gravel. "Where'd you get that?" Kevin asked.

"The sand was by that tiny pond we drink from how could you forget-" "No, I mean the cigarette," Kevin said. "You know they give you cancer right?" He had heard all his life that cigarettes are bad. Argit shrugged. He didn't know what cancer was.

"Cancer will kill you! Don't you watch..." of course Argit couldn't watch tv. There wasn't any cable in the null void. Kevin sighed. "So how's the skateboard coming along?" He asked. The wheels hadn't been connected yet, but the actual board looked pretty nice. He wished he could get a popular design on the bottom, like he'd seen in stores as a kid, but there was none of that in the null void.

"It's looking good," Argit said, "I found some paint. I'm going to use it to put sand on the top so you don't slip off of it." He smiled, because he also knew something else that Kevin didn't.

A few hours later, Kevin was eating some sort of alien oatmeal outside. He was looking out at the cloudy atmosphere. He always thought he could see shapes wriggling in the distance, but he wasn't sure. He was keeping watch over the camp; Argit climbed up the cliff to where Kevin was. He had the finished skateboard. He handed it to Kevin. "Happy birthday!" He said.

"Thanks!" Kevin said. "Check out the back," Argit said. Kevin looked at the underside of the skateboard. It was painted black, but Argit had arranged small bits of metal in such a way that it spelled '11'. Kevin couldn't help but smile.

"Oh Argit... this is so sweet," he said, grinning at his best friend. He embraced him in a hug. He hadn't ever bothered to teach Argit how to write in English, so he must have copied what he'd written on the lock he wore on a chain around his neck.

He stood up and put the skateboard on the ground. He gently put his weight on it. He gently pushed off, rolling forewords a few feet. It worked!

He tried skating around as Argit watched. He made sure to stay away from the edge of the rock. He tried to do tricks, but he didn't know any. Eventually, he went and sat next to Argit. "Thanks," he repeated again. He considered kissing him, but he didn't.

XxxxxxxxxX

"Hold still!" Argit ripped the old comb through Kevin's hair. "You have to look presentable when we get outa here!" They had rebuilt the teleporter OTTO had had them build. It was finally finished, and they were just about ready to leave the null void.

"You're being such a dick," Kevin said, but he let Argit brush his hair nonetheless. "Your hair has gotten really long," Argit said. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Nothing! I'm just surprised humans can have such long hair." This made Kevin laugh. "I've seen girls with hair down to their butt. This is nothing. Come on, enough waiting around. Let's get going!" They both stood. Argit threw the broken old comb off the ledge of the rock. They wouldn't need it anymore.

They both sat where OTTO had sat. They made sure not to mess up this time. They had the switch next to them, so nobody had to sacrifice himself. They steeled themselves. They'd been waiting for this moment for years. All they had with them was the clothes on their backs, but isn't that what OTTO had had? Would they need anything more? It was too late now.

They pulled the switch together.

XxxxxxxxxX


	3. Chapter 3

They had done it. They were free.

Free from the null void, free to wander the cosmos, free to not have to run from monsters every five minutes. Free to sleep without one eye open. Free to not fear bounty hunters gone mad from the isolation. Free to just... breathe.

Who gave a damn as to what planet they were on? Sure, it wasn't home, but it seemed better than the null void was. It was better than anything they'd seen in years.

All they could do was smile and hug each other and cry. The wind wasn't too hot or cold, the sky wasn't blood red, and there were plants decorating the landscape. Plants! How long had it been since either of them had seen plants? They'd forgotten how great flowers smelled.

"We made it," Kevin said, holding Argit's shoulders and also holding back tears. The ground beneath him was soft, so much more than the null void had been.

Argit nodded, and hugged Kevin again. There was some sort of clover growing in the planet beneath his feet. They sky was a gorgeous cyan, and so were the patches of clovers that blanketed the hilly landscape. There were scarlet leaved trees with white clumps of flowers. Neither boy knew color theory, like most people their age, so they couldn't quite explain why the cyan and red looked so nice together.

There were solid shapes in the distance, making a collection of differently sized triangles. "Are those buildings?" Argit asked Kevin. Not that Kevin would know any better than him.

"There's only one way to find out," Kevin replied. They walked towards the shapes. The walk there was the most pleasant thing they'd witnessed in years, much less experienced. There was a light trail leading to the village lined with smooth rocks. There were sometimes flowers lying on the side of the trail, seemingly having been blown there by the wind. The air smelt so distinctly pretty that they weren't sure if someone had secretly sprayed perfume at them while they weren't looking.

Perhaps they were overreacting, but they couldn't help it. They held hands, hoping it wasn't a dream, as they walked towards the village. They felt like they were floating. It was just so overwhelmingly not the null void that they couldn't help but be giddy.

The inhabitants of the small town wasn't too fazed by two dirty aliens walking into their midst, thank goodness. The place was seen by most of the planet's inhabitants as a small hick town in the countryside filled with nobodies.

"Do you think they'll have a spaceship, or have they not figured out space travel?" "How would we even pay for a spaceship?" The two boys whispered to one another, looking wide eyed at the natives of the planet. "Do you think they can understand us?" "What should we do?" "Do you think they'll give us food?"

Kevin decided to be bold. "Excuse me, do you know where we can find a spaceship?" The blue alien said something neither boy could understand, and waved in the direction of a lot void of any buildings. Perhaps there was something useful in the lot, but they couldn't tell over the buildings surrounding them. Together, arms linked so as to not get separated in the nearly nonexistent crowds, they made their way over to the lot.

The short walk felt long. What if all that was there was just a crappy computer? What if it was the police arresting them for escaping prison? What if it was an empty lot with nothing in it?

Luckily, it was a junk yard. Kevin recognized some spaceship parts. Apparently it was common etiquette to point aliens asking for help in the direction of spaceship and universal translator parts on this planet. Nice.

Kevin was able to spot a translator quickly. "Oh thank goodness we found this, let's see if it works!" He said. "If what works? What is that thing?" "It's a universal translator. They always have English on them, along with Galvan and Incursean and Irken and the like. Ooh!" He pressed a button and a holo screen popped up. Kevin scrolled through a list and was about to pick English when he got an idea.

"Hey Argit, see if you can find your language. Maybe if they knew how to put someone into the null void, they know how to get to space and get their language put into translators."

Argit couldn't find the language he'd grown up speaking. "There's more than one language on my planet. I don't really know the main one." Kevin set the translator to English.

"Excuse me, are the spaceship parts free?" Kevin asked a native walking along nearby using the translator. Argit heard English, but apparently the alien heard their own language, as they seemed to understand. The alien also replied in English, at least that's what Argit heard.

"I don't know, I don't own any of the stuff here." "Oh okay, thanks anyway!" Kevin said, and he looked around for more people that could help them. Argit waded through the scrap metal and broken circuit boards, hoping he could find something useful.

"Hey, let's just build a spaceship and if anyone stops us we'll say we didn't know any better, alright?" Kevin said. The sun was directly behind his head, and the outline of his hair seemed to glow to Argit. It looked kinda cool, he supposed. "Okay," he said.

They had barely just begun to build the spaceship when someone walked around the corner and yelled at them. The boys couldn't tell what he was saying, and Kevin rushed to turn the translator back on.

"...and messing up the order I had stacked my stuff in, ooh you brats are so in trouble, and when I'm through with you-" "Were Sorry!" Kevin shouted in response. "We couldn't find the owner of this place, and we figured we'd-" "Figured?! Just like kids to 'figure' they can just mess with my stuff, always making trouble..."

"Please calm down, we didn't mean to mess up your stuff! We're just lost, and we need a spaceship to go home!" Argit said, trying to help Kevin out. "A spaceship?" Said the alien. "You can't find a spaceship in a junkyard! Are you slow in the head, kid? Everyone knows you find replacement parts in junkyards! A spaceship, who does he think he is..."

"Well, where do we find a spaceship?" Asked Kevin. "Oh, over there someplace." He waved his hand around. "Gee, thanks," Kevin said. He shared a look with Argit. They walked off with the translator, hoping the alien wouldn't notice it was gone.

XxxxxxxxxX

Kevin and Argit hadn't found any spaceships. The sun was going down, and the boys had no place to stay. They had no food or currency either.

"Excuse me, but where can we get some food around here?" Kevin asked someone walking by. They were shown the nearest restaurant, and the pair slipped inside.

"How will we pay for the meal?" Argit whispered to Kevin, away from the translator so nobody could hear. "We'll figure it out later."

They got a table, and were given some kind of bread. There was no time to consider whether there were alien bugs in the bread as the two scarfed down the first meal they'd had outside of the null void in over a year.

"Oh my god, this is so good!" Argit said. The waiter leading them to their table hadn't even left yet when they'd finished the plate.

"Um, would you like a refill?" The waiter said. "Is it free?" Kevin asked, his mouth full of bread. The waiter said it was, and the two nodded furiously.

"Is water also free?" Asked Argit, who'd almost inhaled his share of bread and was trying not to cough. The waiter again said it was, and they ordered more bread and water.

XxxxxxxxxX

Once they'd stuffed themselves to the brim with free bread, they had to decide what to do next. They had nowhere to sleep.

"Maybe we could sleep under the stars for once? We haven't done that in... ever, so why not?" Argit said. The alien clover had felt so nice earlier that day, and he was so tired...

Kevin nodded. "We can just sleep anywhere, as long as there's no laws against it." The waiter showed up again. "More bread? More water?" He said politely, his true feelings about some dirty kids getting free food hidden under a careful mask. For once, though, the two kids shook their heads.

"I'm stuffed," Said Kevin. "I think that's it."

"I'll... bring your bill," said the waiter. He left them again. Argit smiled to himself. "It's so nice to hear that. I haven't eaten at a restaurant and so long," he told Kevin, who nodded. "I know what you mean."

XxxxxxxxxX

They found a patch of clover at the edge of town. It was soft, and nobody told them not to lay there, so they laid themselves down to rest. It was so nice to rest.

Argit lay near Kevin, and they were close enough to feel each other's heat. The air wasn't freezing cold, but it was still nice to have each other's warmth. Maybe there was more to it than just temperature.

Argit rested his head against Kevin's shoulder. Kevin wrapped his arm around him. Alien crickets chirped, and the quiet town nearby hummed slightly with the sound of something, maybe people all watching tv for the evening? The boys could only guess.

They drifted off, feeling safe for once in a long, long time.

XxxxxxxxxX

Kevin awoke to Argit brushing his hair out of his face. He almost fell back asleep, the friendly intimacy felt so nice. His eyes barely fluttered, but Argit stopped.

"You awake?" He whispered. Kevin nodded, and got up. They smiled at each other. The sun was rising, and they got to enjoy the pink clouds of sunrise.

"It's like cotton candy," Kevin said. "Whats that?" Argit asked. "It's a food on earth. It's pure sugar in tiny little strands. It's delicious."

They sat for a bit. Argit continued brushing Kevin's hair. Despite not having washed it with actual shampoo and conditioner in way to long of a time, Argit found Kevin's hair incredibly soft. He had never really felt anything like it before. Kevin liked having his hair messed with. It was relaxing.

Again, he almost fell asleep, but the town nearby was waking up. People were walking about, going about their lives, heading to work. Kevin and Argit both knew they'd have to start their day too.

XxxxxxxxxX

They had asked around all morning, but nobody could really tell them definitively how they could get a spaceship. They were pointed around in circles, and felt like giving up. But what other option did they have?

"I'm hungry," Argit told Kevin. They weren't sure where the restaurant they'd gotten free bread was, but they weren't sure they'd be allowed back there anyway.

"Let's find some sort of store," Kevin said, and their search changed focuses from spaceships to produce. Eventually, they found a little market.

"We don't really have any money," Kevin said. Argit shrugged. He walked up to the shelves and looked for some sort of fruit that looked edible. They all looked equally good to him, but he pretended to care.

"Oh well, I don't really see anything good," he said, holding it up to his face, and making a show of inspecting it. Kevin wasn't quite sure what he was planning; he went outside the store with him anyway.

Argit took a fruit out of his pocket. Neither boy knew what the species was, but it looked like breakfast. Kevin decided he wasn't really the type who could judge Argit for stealing. He'd done worse.

The fruit was alright. "Maybe we can always get food like this from now on," Kevin said. The translator was off but still they spoke quietly. Argit nodded, and looked around. "I'm not sure we can take an entire spaceship without anybody noticing though."

The pair walked around again, asking everyone where they could find a spaceship. Nobody had a clear answer, but the junkyard from yesterday was mentioned quite a lot. It seemed they had no other choice.

"What do you kids want?" Said the jerk who owned the junkyard. Kevin and Argit tried to restrain their obvious disdain for the adult.

"We were looking for a spaceship," Argit said, trying to come off as adorable. The alien wasn't buying it. "Get out of here. I don't have a spaceship!" He said, and stormed off, muttering about kids these days making ridiculous demands or something.

"What an asshole," Kevin whispered, making sure the translator box was off. Argit nodded.

"Do you think he's hiding something?" Argit whispered. "I don't know, but now that you mention it..." they started following the man at a distance.

"The flowers here are pretty," Argit said in a light tone of voice. "Yeah, and the clover. They're nice," Kevin replied. They kept an eye on the alien, watching his every move.

"What do we do if he suspects us of something?" Kevin muttered, making sure the translator was off. "I can knock him out," Argit said. "If we find out he does have a spaceship, do we steal it?" Kevin nodded.

The alien walked into a building. The two walked by and turned a corner; they watched the entrance of the building carefully from around the corner.

"What do you think is in there?" Kevin said. "Maybe It's his house... or maybe it's holding a spaceship!" Argit said. The alien didn't come out for a while.

They waited about an hour for him to come out of the building. Eventually, though, they got bored, and decided to walk past and see if they saw anything inside. They stopped in the street, pretending to mess with the translator, while peeking through the entranceway.

They saw nothing but an empty room inside.

The alien was nowhere in sight, so they walked closer. Nobody was there. They walked inside, as casual as possible, with hands in their pockets like nothing was wrong. "What the hell? Where did he go?" Argit asked.

"Maybe its a trap," Kevin said, looking around the room. It seemed like an empty room with a normal dirt floor, and there was only one entrance! They were bewildered.

Argit dropped to his knees, and searched the dirt floor. "Maybe there's a trap door," he said, "and he's hiding illegal stuff inside!" Kevin jumped up and down in various places on the floor. "Maybe we'll be able to hear it if I jump!"

They heard nothing special. Every footstep just sounded like dirt. No metal, no wood, nothing.

"Okay, no trap door, maybe it's a secret door on the wall?" Argit said. He began tapping the wall, and listening closely. "Wait, if there was something there, we'd see a room from outside!" Kevin said, and he raced out of the room. He walked in a circle around the building, then came back inside. "Nevermind," he said.

Bewildered, the two walked back outside. They headed back to the junk yard. "Maybe we should have tried digging a hole," Kevin said. "Maybe the trap door is buried." Argit shrugged in response. "Maybe he teleported!" Kevin said. "Maybe," Argit replied.

They were pretty bewildered about the whole ordeal. They made it to the junk yard, and the alien wasn't there either. They looked around real hard (meaning they shaded their eyes with their hands and squinted) and decided to give up.

"I'm hungry. Let's just go. He probably doesn't want to be stalked anyway." Argit said. Kevin agreed.

XxxxxxxxxX

They sat in the shade of a tree, watching the town and eating stolen fruit.

"Maybe we should travel to a different town. There has to be a spaceship somewhere on this planet," Kevin said once he'd finished his bite of fruit. Argit shrugged. "Honestly, why should we go back to out home planets? They could have gotten us out of the null void and they didn't."

The truth stung. Kevin knew it was true, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Argit saw the hurt on Kevin's face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" "No, you're right. They did leave us behind. They didn't do shit. Why should we go back? Let's just live a little. We haven't done that in years."

"Alright," Argit said.

XxxxxxxxxX

The pond was nice and secluded, with trees and vines around it. "It looks like an old painting," Kevin said. "What's a painting?" Argit asked. "It when they use paint to make a picture. They can make the picture look like whatever they want so they make it look nice." "So you're saying this looks nice... I guess you're right."

They left their clothes at the edge of the pond and swam about. "God, it's so nice to relax. The water is so nice..." Kevin trailed off but Argit understood the sentiment. Ponds in the null void were sparse and usually dirty. They were probably just monster piss, and they didn't dare actually go into them. There was some sort of fountain of water bubbling out of a rock they'd drink from, but too much always made Kevin sick.

Argit splashed Kevin with the nice clean water, and Kevin hardly complained. The water sparkled under the sunlight that was filtered by the tree above them. They floated about in the pond, dozing off, daydreaming about the clouds in the sky.

Despite all they'd been through, they felt like maybe, just maybe, life could be kind to them.


End file.
